Tea Party founder visits MSU today

November 28, 2011

Amy Kremer, one of the founding members of the Tea Party, will discuss the partyâ€™s history and the 2012 presidential election at McCool Hallâ€™s Taylor Auditorium at 8 p.m. today in a visit hosted by Mississippi State University College Republicans.
Kremer is currently the chair of the Tea Party Express, a bus tour which promotes Tea Party initiatives and conservative candidates. The Tea Party Express partnered with CNN in September 2011 for the Tea Party Express Republican Presidential Debate.
Kremer has also made appearances on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Philip Griffin, chairman of MSU College Republicans, said the Atlanta Tea Party she co-founded in 2009 was one of Americaâ€™s earliest Tea Party chapters, making her a founder for the party as a whole.
â€śThat was one of the very first, if not the first, in the country,â€ť Griffin said. â€śThe Tea Party has become a movement we hear about all over the media. I think the students and faculty stand to gain perspective on how the Tea Party got started and where they plan to go in the future.â€ť
According to Kremerâ€™s biography on Politicoâ€™s website for â€śThe Arena,â€ť Kremer is also a co-founder of American Grassroots Coalition and is co-chair of the Doctor-Patient Medical Associationâ€™s Patient Power Project. She was a panelist in the Value Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., and has spoken at the 9/12 March on D.C. and the Tea Party Convention in Nashville.
Griffin said Kremerâ€™s visit has been in the works since August, when MSU College Republicans first contacted her.
â€śWe just called her and told her we were interested in the Tea Partyâ€™s history and her take on the 2012 election,â€ť Kremer said. â€śShe said she would love to visit Mississippi.â€ť
Griffin said MSU College Republicans purposefully avoided bringing Kremer to MSU during races for state and local office.
â€śI wanted to make sure it was after the general election,â€ť Griffin said. â€śI wanted to make sure that the students and faculty at Mississippi State and the citizens of Starkville were able to keep their attention on statewide elections in Mississippi before we moved their attention to 2012.â€ť
With Kremerâ€™s visit to MSU, Griffin said, the Starkville community will get an inside perspective on elections to come.
â€śIt would give our students and our locals a chance to be involved in some of the early 2012 presidential discussions,â€ť Griffin said. â€śItâ€™s great to have a national figure visit our city.â€ť